


Cloud-Watching

by Tani



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga), Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 04:38:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12697518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tani/pseuds/Tani
Summary: Kicked out of her dorm room to spend some time in the sun, Ami stumbles across an intriguing fellow student.





	Cloud-Watching

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting on my computer for ages, so I thought I would actually post it. The random pairing is spawned from an attempt to write for a challenge. The story itself has no point, but I hope that someone enjoys it regardless!

“You need to get out of this room,” Mina said firmly. “Sunshine. Fresh air. Vitamin D! These are good things! Come on, Ami, you're a pre-med student. You should know these things.”

“I get out of the room,” Ami protested. “I go to class. Sometimes, I study in the library.”

“And?” Mina prompted. “When do you spend time outside? When do you socialize with people other than me? Well?” Her foot tapped impatiently, waiting for an answer.

“But it's so noisy outside,” Ami protested. “How am I supposed to keep my grades up if I'm constantly distracted by other people?”

Mina sighed. “Honey, your grades won't drop just because you spent a few hours outside. Hell, I'll even let you take your books if you want. You can kill two birds with one stone: get some sun and do some studying. Just please, get out of this room. Some weeks, I'm half-afraid that I'm going to find mushrooms growing on you.”

Well, maybe she had a point, Ami conceded mentally. Vitamin D was a necessity, and although she was sure that she had enough milk in her diet to compensate for her lack of sun, maybe it wouldn't hurt to get some the more traditional way. Maybe it would even be nice, to feel the warmth on her skin and all that. Plus, it would make Mina happy, and that was certainly a worthy cause. Being lucky enough to be assigned Mina as her roommate during freshman year had been an unlooked-for boon, and one that she was hoping would continue for as many years as they were both attending the same college. It was worth a little inconvenience to keep that going.

“OK,” Ami said, starting the process of gathering the necessary books and shoving them in her backpack.

“I mean, honestly,” Mina said. “It's like you've been turned into a vampire these past couple of months.”

“OK,” Ami repeated.

“Not that I have anything against the vampire aesthetic, but tan is so much more fashionable.”

“Mina, I said OK.”

A look of alarm passed over Mina's pretty features. “You didn't get turned into a vampire, did you? I mean, it's not like it would affect our friendship, but I would like to think you would at least tell me if something that important happened-”

“Mina, I'm going,” Ami said, a little more forcefully.

Mina blinked, then beamed her thousand watt smile. “Awesome. It'll be good for you, I promise. Just because you're a med student doesn't mean you have a monopoly on good advice, you know.”

“I know,” Ami conceded.

“Now, go soak up those rays!”

And before Ami could even weigh the benefits of putting on sunscreen, Mina was pushing her out the door and closing it firmly behind her. Ami blinked, then finished zipping her backpack and slung it over her shoulder, wondering vaguely for the first time if maybe Mina's request had less to do with Ami's health and more to do with Mina's desire to have the room to herself for a while. Was there a new guy? Ami wondered. Well, there was almost always a new guy. But if he was bring-back-to-the-room material, then maybe Ami should consider meeting him.  
It was a thought for later, anyway. Right now, it was time to head outside. Regardless of the reason, she'd told Mina that she would spend some time outside, and that was exactly what she was going to do.

It was a balmy spring day outside, and it seemed like half the campus was taking advantage of the lovely weather. Games of ultimate Frisbee sprouted here and there, bordered by the sprawling forms of sunbathing girls. Ami choked back her disapproving thoughts of skin cancer, and reminded herself that she would soon be joining them, if not for quite so decadent a purpose as sunbathing. She had to admit, it was quite nice out. The gentle breeze felt nice on her skin, especially after a long winter spent mostly indoors.

The problem was, it was a little too nice. So many people were out that there wasn't a place in sight that would be deserted enough for her purposes. She had no desire to eavesdrop on the gossipy conversations of those sunbathing girls, and she certainly didn't want the attention that would be drawn to her if one of those Frisbees landed in her study zone. Shaking her head, she ventured further down the path, and hopefully away from those nuisances that so many considered her peers.

She had walked quite some distance from the dorm, and was actually considering just giving up and going to the library (would Mina really know?), when she spotted a relatively clear area. She quickened her pace a little, scanning the area to assess whether it would be suitable for her purposes. Yes, it did look like it would work. Just one lone figure occupied the space of several feet, and the closest neighbors were a couple of the sunbathers, a mercifully quiet pair. In fact, she almost thought that at least one of them might be asleep.

Drawing closer, her steps slowed a little. The lone figure that occupied the space so centrally was actually someone she knew. Another pre-med student, his name was Shikamaru. They had a lot of classes together. He came over as a slacker, but gossip had it that his family owned some pharmaceutical company, and that was how he'd been pressured into going for such an intense program. Common wisdom had it that he would drop out within a year.

Ami really couldn't care less about gossip, although she did feel a certain condescension for anyone who didn't work as hard at classes as she did. After all, college was expensive. There was no point in going at it half-assed. Then again, she never had been one for halfhearted efforts. It was both her blessing and her curse.  
Still, he had a right to choose how he spent his time, and if this was it, then she had no right to say anything. She slowed to a stop. Maybe she should find a different place to sit. Maybe her studying would bring him down. There had to be another clear spot on this entire campus that would suffice for her studying. Never mind that she was getting tired of wandering. Better to avoid rocking the boat.

She was just about to turn and head in a new direction when his eyes opened and met hers. “Feel free to take a seat,” he said. “Unless you're going to lecture me or something. Then you can get lost.”

Ami shook her head. “No lectures here. Just looking for a place where I can study in peace, without getting run over or talked to.”

“Well, looks like you're gotten your wish.”

“Thank you,” Ami said, taking a few steps forward and putting her backpack down on the grass. She gracefully folded her legs to follow it, promptly putting Shikamaru out of her head. Anatomy and physiology was far more pertinent to her current interests. They, at least, would have some future application in her life. The same probably could not be said of Shikamaru.

Still, she couldn't help but glance up in between pages, and she was surprised to find that every time she did, Shikamaru remained in the same position, staring up at the sky with a distant look on his face. At first, she tried to dismiss it from her mind. Studying was far more important, after all. But she was curious by nature, and eventually the question of what in the world he was doing began to distract her.

Finally, after two chapters worth of note-taking, she decided she needed to give her fingers and brain a rest. And what better way than with a little meaningless conversation? She knew it was hypocritical, given her own request for quiet, but the idea had the added benefit that it might lessen her distraction to know just what in the world he was doing.  
“Can I ask you a question?” Ami asked quietly.

Thankfully, Shikamaru at least didn't respond with the tired old, 'You just did.' Instead, he said, “I thought you didn't want to talk.”

Ami flushed a little. “I did say that, but even I need a break sometimes, and I have to admit, I'm very curious.”

“About what I'm doing? I promise, it's nothing that exciting.”

“I'd still like to know.”

“I'm cloud-watching,” Shikamaru said, still staring persistently at the sky.

Ami's eyes automatically drifted up to the sky. Despite the sun, it was indeed a cloudy day, with lots of cumuli floating in the high blue sky. Now that she looked at them, she realized that they were quite pretty. Still, she couldn't ever see herself spending more than two minutes watching them, much less two hours. “I don't understand,” she confessed. “Aren't you bored, watching them for so long?”

Shikamaru finally took his eyes off the sky in order to look at her. “No, not at all. It's how I relax. No matter how long you watch them, clouds never stay the same. They're always changing, so there's always something new to see. I like that.”

Ami perused the clouds again, but still found herself largely unmoved. She was far more into things that were useful, rather than just decorative.

“You're doing it the wrong way,” Shikamaru said conversationally. “It's far better to lay down and look. You get a wider view, and things are always more interesting when you can see the whole picture.” Ami hesitated, and he added, “You don't have to if you don't want to, of course. But sometimes the only way to understand something is to experience it the way it's meant to be experienced.”

Ami paused for a second longer and then laid down. He was right, the sky did look different from this angle. When you were looking at it sitting up, you were always either getting a view of the horizon or hurting your neck. Laying down, it all seemed so much more vast. The blue felt deeper, and the clouds, ever-shifting, were almost like a movie. Or a soap opera, with each cloud so wrapped up in its own world that it didn't even notice anything else until it ran right into it.

“It is kind of relaxing,” Ami said, after a moment had passed with her captivated.

They lapsed back into silence after that, each lost in the world of the clouds. Finally, Ami forced herself to sit up. There was still reading to do and facts to memorize. Becoming a doctor was time-consuming, but she knew it would be worth it in the end. Still, the clouds had been a nice break from reality for a while.

“That was nice,” she said, already getting out her next book, this time to her introductory psychology course. “Thank you.” She firmly bit back on the comment that wanted to follow, about him taking some of that cloud-watching time and turning it into studying. She barely knew him and had no right to comment on his study habits, no matter how horrendous it seemed like they were.

“You're welcome,” Shikamaru said. Then, after a pause of his own, he continued. “Feel free to come back anytime. I usually have this place staked out on the good cloud-watching days. It might do you some good to focus a little less on studying and little more on relaxing.”

Well, since he had gone there... “And the opposite is probably true of you,” she said, a little tartly.

Shikamaru shrugged, an awkward-looking gesture on someone who was laying down. “Maybe you're right. Tell you what. Next time, I'll bring my books. We can study together or something.”

Ami smiled. “I'd like that.”

And to her surprise she found that she would. Wouldn't Mina be surprised? No need to kick her out of the room. The next sunny day, she would be heading out of her own accord. There was studying to do, and clouds to watch, and intriguing classmates to learn a little more about. What more could she ask for?


End file.
